Posted tagged ‘employee owned’

There was no shortage of action in the mobile industry in 2011. So what will 2012 bring? There are plenty of 2012 doomsday prophecies, so you’d better go out and get that smartphone or tablet that you’ve been drooling over early in the year so that you can at least have some fun before the end is here. Now, on to happier topics. (more…)

Way back in 2008, I attend a conference on mobile computing. One of the events was sort of a focus group around sharing challenges that us IT folks have in the workplace. The biggest issue was around people bringing in their personal iPhones and connecting them up to their corporate Exchange servers. There were many questions around security and support of this new mobile platform (see blog post entitled iPhones in the Enterprise: What’s A Company To Do?). Fast-forward to 2010. I attended the same conference with a very similar focus group. Many of the same concerns and question were shared, only this time the discussion focused on Android.

Many enterprises are struggling with the Consumerization of IT wave that is sweeping through many areas, including smartphones. Employees are no longer satisfied with the restrictive device offerings from corporate IT, while IT is struggling to secure and support so many different device types in a cost-effective manner.

Many companies are investigating an individual-liable program which allows the employee to use their personal device to access corporate content. While it can minimize the device and/or plan costs, the support costs can skyrocket.

One approach is to use a community support model instead of traditional help desk approach. While this can greatly reduce costs, it can also frustrate users who are accustomed to relying on the IT department for help. However, if done right, you can give employees the flexibility to use their preferred device and minimize help desk costs. You may even be able to change the culture of the organization.

How many times have employees asked to have their personal smartphones ‘hooked up’ to the corporate environment? How many of you would like to use your own smartphone to access your email system, intranet web siltes, or collaboration tools? Bringing technology tools like smartphones from the consumer market into the enterprise environment is known by some as the consumerization of IT. In 2005, Gartner called consumerization of IT the most significant trend affecting IT during the next 10 years.